Catholic Conference of Ohio

Friday, December 13, 2024

Our Purpose

The Conference represents the Church's position before the Ohio General Assembly, various state departments, bureaus, agencies and other organizations. The Conference also provides facilitation, coordination and joint programming for diocesan groups involved in various Church ministries.

Our History

Established in 1945, the Catholic Conference of Ohio is the second oldest state bishops' conference in the United States (New York was the first). Originally known as the Ohio Catholic Welfare Conference, the Conference was given its present name by the bishops of Ohio in 1967.

There now are Catholic Conferences similar to Ohio's in forty-two states.

Governance

The policies and activities of the Catholic Conference are governed by a Board of Directors, comprised of every Roman Catholic Bishop exercising jurisdiction in Ohio, as well as the Bishops of the Parma Byzantine Eparchy, Romanian Catholic Diocese of Canton, and Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Parma. 

The Archbishop of Cincinnati, as head of the Province of Cincinnati (the territory of the State of Ohio), acts as chairman of the Board of Directors.

View Bishops & Staff

Departments

There are two primary focus areas within the Catholic Conference of Ohio. They are:

Education, Social Concerns

View Focus Areas

Download Informational Flyer

Catholic Conference of Ohio's Informational Flyer (Updated 6/24)

The Catholic Church in Ohio

As of January 2023, Catholic parishioners represented almost 16% of the population of the State of Ohio. The Catholic Conference exists to represent their interests in state government. Some other statisticsabout the Church in Ohio, as reported by The Official Catholic Directory® by P.J. Kenedy & Sons, include:

  2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total Ohio Population 11,609,309 11,618,058 11,631,857 11,669,281 11,537,621 11,863,950 11,922,967 11,800,770
Catholics  1,944,138 1,919,053 1,893,305 1,825,572 1,881,156 1,766,941 1,754,773 1,853,196
Priests 1,554 1,512 1,486 1,064 1,419 1,406 1,380 1,359
Sisters 2,528 2,423 2,304 2,330 2,281 2,187 2,075 2,044
Brothers 169 161 158 153 169 143 147 129
Deacons 790 812 835 811 815 792 790 808
Parishes 768 776 766 762 761 760 754 753
Hospital Facilities 36 36 36 36 29 29 29 29
Healthcare Persons Assisted 5,337,932  5,640,439 5,867,202 5,343,344 5,236,258 4,111,418 2,931,646 2,774,058
Social Service Agencies 79 71 66 66 68 61 56 52
Persons Assisted Social Services  961,585 867,408 884,406 884,406 932,763 574,688 480,865 518,004
Cemeteries 190 190 190 190 190 190 190 190
Colleges/Universities 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 13
Catholic K-12 Schools 376 373 374 374 363 362 379 381
Students in K-12 Schools 118,359  116,559 114,445 111,984 114,445 109,097 109,097 109,343
Students in Religious Education 99,518 90,927 90,004 87,148 84,750 73,991 58,891 57,037